Richard Barrett: Close-Up; H&N, Sat 5/5/18: 10:00pm

[Joseph K]

Thanks Joseph, but - given that you were at the live performance too - did you feel that what you heard on the radio was balanced in a similar way? because, listening to the broadcast, I found the electronic sounds pushed far into the background and the recorder into the foreground, almost as if the recording engineer hadn't been listening to the balance in the control room, let alone taking seriously my explicit directions beforehand that all instruments including the electronics should function as equals throughout. For me the recording was a great disappointment, especially as the performance was so beautifully concentrated (as was the audience!). It would have been so easy to get this right... well, I hope we have another chance sooner or later.

Yes, actually - in fact, after the opening piece, where the electronics were audible, listening through the pieces the electronics tended to take a background role (listening last night, that is).

I am sorry to hear the recording was a great disappointment...

[Bryn]

Anyone trying to listen via the iPlayer on demand facility in the early hours might also have been lumbered with a fairly low data rate offering. It is now up to the usual 320kbps aac though.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd presumed that the balance heard on last night's broadcast was the preferred one, (with the result that the electronics tended to enhance and expand the timbres produced by the other instrumentalists, rather than an integral part of the ensemble in its own right) and that what we heard in Leeds was misjudged. It sounds closer to what Richard says (as far as this balance is concerned) on the video of that performance that Bryn linked to on the Composers subForum - although that may be simply because I can see what Richard is doing there.

A great pity - as Joseph says in #14, "great ... colourful ... subtle, delicately mysterious ... imaginative and fresh ... lyrical" (well, he didn't mention the last one, but I'm sure he meant to ) A remarkable and inspiring work in its own right, and yet another significant addition to the Barrett "catalogue"; for all the flaws of balance, the broadcast reinforced just how marvellous this piece is.

[Richard Barrett]

I'm very pleased and grateful to hear that something managed to shine through the strange balancing... in the meantime I think I need to get hold of the audio from the Leeds performance and give it a better listen than is possible with the video stream. Listening to a few snippets here and there (I hadn't heard any of it before) it does seem to represent the music more precisely.

BTW: what the German broadcasting organisations do after a live recording is send the composer a first mix of the performance to invite comments and suggestions for how it might be improved (including cutting sections in from the dress rehearsal if necessary) so that the eventual broadcast recording is as good as it can be - which is no doubt why there are so many CDs of contemporary music sourced from the WDR, SWR and so on. I guess the BBC doesn't have the resources to do that.

[Quarky]

Great stuff - that raised the standard of recent offerings from H&N no end.

The level of concentration required could be varied at will, and still the piece could be enjoyed without loss (for certain composers I have to concentrate strongly from beginning to end). And all at a low dB level!

Only complaint that it was not long enough - look forward to a CotW on Richard Barrett.

[Bryn]

I'm very pleased and grateful to hear that something managed to shine through the strange balancing... in the meantime I think I need to get hold of the audio from the Leeds performance and give it a better listen than is possible with the video stream. Listening to a few snippets here and there (I hadn't heard any of it before) it does seem to represent the music more precisely.

BTW: what the German broadcasting organisations do after a live recording is send the composer a first mix of the performance to invite comments and suggestions for how it might be improved (including cutting sections in from the dress rehearsal if necessary) so that the eventual broadcast recording is as good as it can be - which is no doubt why there are so many CDs of contemporary music sourced from the WDR, SWR and so on. I guess the BBC doesn't have the resources to do that.

Listening to the iPlayer's 'HD Sound' version of the Oxford performance last night I got the distinct impression that not only was the balance between acoustic instruments and electronics way out of kilter (very different from that I heard directly in the City University Perfromance Space a few days ahead of the Oxford perfromance), there also appeared to be a considrable amount of editing, some of it not of the cleanest (sudden cut-offs, etc.). If my impression correctly reflects the situation, that makes the poor balance even more inexcusable. Best of luck with getting hold of the Leeds recording in the highest resolution available.

[Richard Barrett]

Best of luck with getting hold of the Leeds recording in the highest resolution available.

As soon as that's sorted I will flag it up here of course.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks Joseph, but - given that you were at the live performance too - did you feel that what you heard on the radio was balanced in a similar way? because, listening to the broadcast, I found the electronic sounds pushed far into the background and the recorder into the foreground, almost as if the recording engineer hadn't been listening to the balance in the control room, let alone taking seriously my explicit directions beforehand that all instruments including the electronics should function as equals throughout. For me the recording was a great disappointment, especially as the performance was so beautifully concentrated (as was the audience!). It would have been so easy to get this right... well, I hope we have another chance sooner or later.

The BBC has form on this - several times in recent times I've noticed an apparent inability or reluctance to balance electronic and acoustic inputs in works of this kind: a particular culprit being a transmission of Berio's Laborintus II a few years ago. The dramatic impact in this work truly climaxes at the point where the pre-taped electronics explode like fireworks, punctuated by loud chorus interjections and followed in juxtaposition with an increasingly hysterical text. In the broadcast the electronic "explosion" came across as miniscule decoration, thereby completely belying the powerful preceding build up! From knowing the work well this was more tantamount to cock-up than composer intention!

[Richard Barrett]

The BBC has form on this - several times in recent times I've noticed an apparent inability or reluctance to balance electronic and acoustic inputs in works of this kind

The CD of Roberto Gerhard's 3rd symphony with Matthias Bamert is another example. On the other hand, though, the BBC recording of the Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble at the London Jazz Festival a few years back was perfectly balanced in this regard (sounding a lot more like the group actually sounds than do the discs on ECM!), as was my own CONSTRUCTION from Huddersfield in 2009.

[Serial_Apologist]

Great stuff - that raised the standard of recent offerings from H&N no end.

The level of concentration required could be varied at will, and still the piece could be enjoyed without loss (for certain composers I have to concentrate strongly from beginning to end). And all at a low dB level!

Only complaint that it was not long enough - look forward to a CotW on Richard Barrett.

I have to admit that my first hearing of this work came courtesy Bryn's kind supplying of the Leeds video - two-thirds of the way through which I was forced to press Pause as a result of a phone call I couldn't ignore. One thing Richard's music cannot withstand is being interrputed and then later resumed: what up to that point had made total and engrossing sense suddenly became incomprehensible, and the deficit was not made up until I heard the programme, when all became clear. But one thing about the work that was immediately clear from the second hearing was how much of the overall impression and sequencing of events had stayed in the memory - not of course in detail, but while one would not expect such from a single listening, as with much of this composer's work it is the vivid characterisation involved in the materials and they ways in which they are put together that succeed in making for music of high order.

[Quarky]

I have to admit that my first hearing of this work came courtesy Bryn's kind supplying of the Leeds video - two-thirds of the way through which I was forced to press Pause as a result of a phone call I couldn't ignore. One thing Richard's music cannot withstand is being interrputed and then later resumed: what up to that point had made total and engrossing sense suddenly became incomprehensible, and the deficit was not made up until I heard the programme, when all became clear. But one thing about the work that was immediately clear from the second hearing was how much of the overall impression and sequencing of events had stayed in the memory - not of course in detail, but while one would not expect such from a single listening, as with much of this composer's work it is the vivid characterisation involved in the materials and they ways in which they are put together that succeed in making for music of high order.

Many thanks S_A - I will give it another listen (if I can find a clear space of an hour or so....)

[Serial_Apologist]

Many thanks S_A - I will give it another listen (if I can find a clear space of an hour or so....)

And btw I should apologise to ferney, who was the actual person who gave us the Leeds Livestream performance in post #2, still available by clicking on the link there, and well worth watching even if (like me!) you usually prefer listening eyes closed, because you pick up on the physical aspect of involvement going into this piece.

[Richard Barrett]

And btw I should apologise to ferney, who was the actual person who gave us the Leeds Livestream performance in post #2, still available by clicking on the link there, and well worth watching even if (like me!) you usually prefer listening eyes closed, because you pick up on the physical aspect of involvement going into this piece.

Also the sound balance is much better! I've contacted the people in Leeds to ask if I can get hold of the audio material from this performance, which I would then make a couple of small adjustments to before uploading it to Soundcloud where everyone can hear it. Watch this space.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And btw I should apologise to ferney, who was the actual person who gave us the Leeds Livestream performance in post #2, still available by clicking on the link there, and well worth watching even if (like me!) you usually prefer listening eyes closed, because you pick up on the physical aspect of involvement going into this piece.

No need for the apology,S_A: you were right to credit Bryn - I merely copied the link from his on the Composers sub-Forum.

[Bryn]

Also the sound balance is much better! I've contacted the people in Leeds to ask if I can get hold of the audio material from this performance, which I would then make a couple of small adjustments to before uploading it to Soundcloud where everyone can hear it. Watch this space.

Now that I have recordings of all three performances (the Leeds in both the video stream's audio and the edit provided by Richard) I would comment that while the balance might be more in line with what he intended in the Leeds mix, what my little Zoom H2 captured from near middle of the front row at City University's Performance Space was closer to the balance of the Hear and Now mix of the Oxford performance. Good to hear so much more detail in the Leeds recording.